Definitions for ballyhoo

a clamorous and vigorous attempt to win customers or advance any cause; blatant advertising or publicity.

clamor or outcry.

a halfbeak, Hemiramphus brasiliensis, inhabiting both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Citations for ballyhoo

The invasion of ballyhoo commenced in the spring of 1931, when a purchase of somewhat spectacular nature—that of the strange objects and inexplicably preserved bodies found in crypts beneath the almost vanished and evilly famous ruins of Chateau Faussesflammes, in Averoigne, France—brought the museum prominently into the news columns.H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald, "Out of the Aeons," Weird Tales, April 1935

The new rule in radio is that it is both important and lucrative to be seen as well as heard. The kind of ballyhoo shown here is now common to broadcasting, and more ingenuity goes into program promotion than into actual program production., "Who's Afraid of Television? Radio's New Riches," Life, July 22, 1957

Origin of ballyhoo

1830-1840

Ballyhoo is of uncertain origin. It gained prominence in the US as circus slang around 1900, but there is record of it being used to refer to an unseaworthy ship approximately 50 years earlier.